Smith hits back after Bruce calls for FA to punish Maupay

Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce expects the Football Association to discipline Brentford goalscorer Neal Maupay after he avoided a red card to almost secure a famous win for the Bees – but Dean Smith insists Mile Jedinak also deserved to be punished.

Jonathan Kodjia’s injury-time header rescued a deserved 2-2 draw for the hosts after Maupay’s brace looked like giving the Bees their first-ever victory at Villa.

It was Kodjia’s second of the game but Bruce was angry Maupay was on the pitch to grab his second after an apparent first-half stamp on John McGinn went unpunished by referee Jon Moss.

Bruce said: “It (losing) would have been unjust. The disappointing thing for me was the boy stamped on John and he scored two.

“It’s disappointing when he scored twice but I am sure they (the FA) will look at it.

“The last thing I want to see is red cards but what you don’t want to see is the boy stamping on anyone.”

But Brentford boss Smith felt Jedinak also had a lucky escape.

Smith said: “If you remember the incident, Mile Jedniak fell over, got up and then smashed Neal in the back of the head so if they are looking at retrospective for Neal then we’ll do so for Jedinak.”

Smith added: “I would have taken a point at half-time, we weren’t very good in the first half but we looked the more likely as the game went on. We missed big chances at 2-1 to put the game to bed.

“The start has been very good, it could have been excellent.”